The Donutters
by Stainless Steel Fox
Summary: A Rescue Rangers Stainless-verse continuation story. The Rangers are older and more experienced, but still on the case. Someone is stealing supplies from Mom's Diner. What sinister plot is being hatched?


****

The Donutters

It was a morning in late autumn, and the sun shone in through the windows of the main office of the 16th police precinct. The Rescue Rangers were observing the office from a static ceiling fan, and looking for ways to assist. At least some members were. Chip swung Gadget's newly crafted telescope back and forth, surveying the office as a captain surveys the ocean. Dale padded up, and with his usual delicacy and tact inquired, "Hey Chip! When am I gonna to get a go?"

"Be careful with that guys, it took me ages to grind the lenses properly." A certain murine inventor interjected from where she was sitting by the hub motor. She then returned to her inspection of the open access panel, and sketching blueprints. This would probably have worried the chipmunks if they hadn't been involved in other things. Dale made a grab for the scope and Chip side-stepped, letting him pratfall. "Dale! Let me finish my turn." He put it back to his eye and focused on Sargent Spinelli's desk.. "Hmm… I know there's going to be something today, I can smell it."

Monterey Jack was on the far side of the fan, readying a hook and line, with Zipper in attendance. He sniffed deeply.

"The only thing I smell is breakfast, right pally?" "Zyou zed id!"

The apparent objective of their fishing expedition was the open bag of hot donuts in the pod below, which acted as a communal coffee area. Zipper grabbed the end of the line and dropped down, flying into the bag to hook a donut. Suddenly Chip called out.

"Look out Monty, the Sargent's coming, and he's got a coffee cup!"

"Roight lad!" Monty gave a huge heave on the line, flirting the donut in question, and Zipper, up out of the bag.

"Zyipes!" that most worthy insect yiped, as the donut passed him at just short of Mach 1 and accelerating. It bounced off the ceiling and then rebounded off the stem of the fan, slamming into the back of Monterey. "Crickey!" Monty teetered forward on the edge of the fan boss, arms wind-milling.

Zipper barrelled into his front, while the other three Rangers ran up behind. Chip picked up a coil of the discarded rope and flipped it over the adiposially advantaged antipodean, "C'mon everyone!" He hauled on it and the other two joined in. In a moment Monty fell back onto the fan boss and into the hole in the donut.

"Thanks mates! I guess the doc was right, donuts will be the death of me!" He pulled himself up, helped by Gadget.

"If ya don't want any, I could sure use one of Ma's police specials." Dale said as he plunged a forepaw into an un-squashed section and pulled out a handful. He sniffed blissfully at the doughy lump in his hand, and swallowed it in one gulp. Then he got an odd look on his face.

"Hey… what's goin' on here? This isn't one of Ma's donuts." He pulled out a second handful with some crust clearly visible and inspected it. "Glaze is patchy, colour is off…" he nibbled a bit more judiciously. "Frozen dough, reheated and fried in lower grade rendered oil…" He smacked his lips. "Hasn't been changed often enough, there's a very slight rancid aftertaste. Has to be from Donut Hole."

"You can tell all that?" a slightly awe-struck Gadget said, on behalf of the entire group.

Dale looked slightly miffed. "Of course! Ya trust Monty when it comes to knowing his cheese n' q's. Well, when it comes to junk food, I am the master." He deliberately deepened his voice for the last few words and posed in a proud stance. Zipper caught on and buzzed the last few bars of the Imperial march from one of Dale's favourite sci-fi movies. Unfortunately Gadget and Monty took it at face value.

"Good point Dale." "Too right mate." "Only a master of the deep fried side of the food source."

Dale snickered at Chip's mangling the correct response, and went on in the same tone. "Never underestimate the power of the Deep fried." He took the handful of donut and ate it, to the others surprised looks. "It's edible, though I find the lack of glaze… disturbing."

Chip was snickering too and winced at the last line, but got a hold of himself. "Ow… Dale, enough with the fandom menace act. This is kinda odd."

Gadget shook her head. "But it doesn't make sense! The nearest Donut Hole franchise is over 5 blocks away, near the industrial park. Why would they go there when they have Ma's next door? Maybe it's just an isolated incident."

Chip started looking around with the telescope, this time focussing on the waste paper baskets. His own fan-boy moment was over and he was back in detective mode. "Or maybe not… Donut Hole, Pizza Shack, Unhealthy Fried Chicken, McGoofies, Burger Duke… all the major junk food groups are filling up their garbage. What does that tell you?"

Dale looked confused, "Their cleaner should come around more than twice a week?"

"No, you dummy! Well yeah, I guess so, but that wasn't what I meant. They're no longer going to Ma's Diner." Chip looked around at the other Rangers.

"Well Chipper, I guess it's the only mystery we've got." Monterey said.

"Just as well solving mysteries are what the Rescue Rangers are all about! So let's go! Rescue Rangers away!" The group ran or flew, depending on species, out along a fan blade and sprung into the half open ventilator grille that lead to the roof, and the Ranger Plane.

&

The Ranger plane flapped it's way out over the street and spiralled down to land on the flat roof of the single story Ma's Diner. They could see Ma herself standing at the front entrance, talking to Kirby. The big lighted arrow was off and the door sign was turned to 'Closed'.

"Ah don't know how it's happening. Goodness, it seems like ah can't make a dozen donuts, or a bowl of that Cheese chowder you boys like so much, without running out of something."

Kirby shrugged. "Well, Ma, you know I'd come here, and so would most everyone else. At least you know no-ones stealing it, this place is practically under 24 hour surveillance now'days with the new cameras'."

"Ah'm getting in another lot of supplies this afternoon so Ah'll be open for the second shift. Checking it all personally." Ma looked seriously unhappy. "Land sakes, if this goes on, I'll have to close the diner."

"Don't you fret none Ma, I'll let everyone know." The big guy turned and headed off towards the precinct house. Ma sighed and locked up.

The Rangers were watching the whole exchange from atop the parapet.

"Golly, did you here that? We have to help."

"Too right. We can't let the poor old gal down."

Chip nodded and went into business mode. "Well first, we need to figure out what could be happening to the supplies. As soon as that new load get here, this place is under 24 hour Ranger surveillance. We'll look for clues and get set up while she's away."

&

The window latch fell before Gadget's magna-ray backpack, and the Rangers easily gained entry to the kitchen area. They systematically went over the place with a casual efficiency born of experience. But it was Zipper, flying the high watch, who found the first clue. He hovered over the knob of storeroom door, squeaking excitedly.

"Looks like me little pally's seen something up there."

"Okay, Monty. Gadget, can you get us up there?" Chip pointed at the doorknob.

"In a jiff, Chip." Gadget set to work for a couple of moments and quickly converted an egg whisk, a wooden spoon and a couple of lines fired from her plunger gun into a makeshift elevator. The spoon was tied across the handle to form seating.

Monty, who had been elected to turn the crank, cast a doubtful eye over the contraption. "Not to be casting nasturtiums luv, but how secure is it?"

"Golly Monterey, you worry too much. Each plunger has supported a test load of twice the combined weight of the device and all of us. So this should work with no problems."

Monty started sweating at the Words of Doom, and thanked his foresight in following Gadget's lead and packing a parachute. However it seemed that this time fate was on a coffee break. With Monty standing on the bowl of the spoon, and the other three spaced out as a counterweight, the device quickly raised them level with the knob.

Chip had his magnifying glass out and was already examining the brass knob and lock.

"So this is what Zipper spotted. Good work."

Zipper buzzed proudly, but Dale was right next to Chip, and leaned over his shoulder. "I Don't see what's so special. The knob's all scratched on top. Looks like when you use your grappling line to open a door…"

"I never opened this door, but it looks like some other small animals did. Repeatedly, just look at the number of scratches. Okay Monty, lower us to the lock."

Once again, the magnifying glass did it's work. "Aha! Zipper, there's something trapped in the lock there. Can you get it? Let's get down."

As they reached the ground, there was a double pop and the two sucker tipped lines dropped back onto the floor. Gadget sighed. "Darn! I thought I had that long term adhesion problem licked. Oh well." She started dismantling the contraption, unaware of the incredulous looks she was getting from Dale and Monty.

Chip was concentrating on the item Zipper had brought him. "As I suspected… Guys, what do you make of this." He handed it around.

Dale got it first. He sniffed, "Say… it's fur, smells of lock grease, and something else… something kinda bad… the sewers maybe."

Gadget went next. "I don't need to analyse this fur. It's from a mouse, but there's at least two different colours there."

Monty and Zipper had joint last go. Zipper buzzed first. "Zipper here, reckons there's bits of dirt in it, kind of like dried mud."

Chip sumarised. "So it looks like that line also supported a mouse who came up from the sewers and did Gadget's unlocking trick with their tail. More than one, considering the different coloured fur. Could you do it, Gadget?"

"It's a big lock… but I guess I could, no I'm sure I could. My tail would be pretty sore afterwards."

Chip bit back a remark about her tail always being pretty and nodded. "I thought so. I've also got an idea about how they got in. Remember the tunnel those two crooks made in the broom closet?"

Dale piped up. "But didn't the bank guys fill it in? There was a feature on the news."

"From their end. Maybe they didn't do it as thoroughly here, especially if part of it had subsided into the sewers. That's where the dirt came from, and the smell. Well, there's an easy way to find out."

The hypothesis was quickly confirmed. Zipper found more marks on the inside of the broom closet knob and a careful inspection eventually found a couple of loose tiles that lead down into stygian darkness. The sewer smell was now noticeable to everyone, not just Dales super sensitive nose.

"Roight lads!" Monty immediately started rolling up his sleeves. "Let's charge down there and find the goons who did this!" Zipper mimicked him.

Chip held him back. "No Monty, it could be booby trapped or guarded. If we set up surveillance and some traps here, we can catch them in the act."

Surprisingly Dale backed him up. "Like Jackie Lee says in Drunken Kung Fu Dragon Master II, 'Only a fool fights on his enemies' home ground'." He was also thinking of the last sewer expedition and how near they'd come to being Rat Capone's construction slaves.

"I agree with Chip and Dale. I can set up a lot of stuff here, much faster than I could build a subterranean tank to travel down there. Of course I could be working on designs while we wait."

Chip looked around the group. "We can worry about going down there when we know more about these mice. In the meantime… Gadget, please rig up some sort of command post for six on top of the top cupboard above the sink. Monty, you're going to bring back a supply of cheese for yourself so you don't get distracted, after all Ma will be making cheese chowder…"

Dale interrupted as Chip turned to him. "Sounds like a plan Chip, 'cept there's only five of us?"

Chip grinned. "I was thinking of getting someone else to help. She'd be ideally suited for the night watch, and I'm sure she'd help if the right person asked. That's why you're going to pull your hang glider parts out of the Ranger plane trunk and go fetch her."

"Oh, you want Foxy!", Dale said enthusiastically. "Sure, why not!" Over the months since Winifred's arrest, the bat-maid had become a regular part of his life, though she tended to avoid the other Rangers and the Treehouse. Her friendship with Dale had also indirectly reduced the in-fighting over Gadget's attentions, bringing the two chipmunks closer to their pre-Ranger relationship.

Chip tapped his chest with a paw and then pointed to Zipper. "Zipper and I will fill in where needed. Any questions?"

"Just one Chip-me-lad. Do you think I should go with straight cheddar, or get some stilton too?"

&

One of the first jobs was slotting together the prefab glider Gadget had built for Dale's flying lessons, and the catapult that would boost him high enough to start catching thermals. Gadget tested the tension on the thick elastic band, and stood by the release lever. "Okay Dale, I've angled it so it'll send you right over Ma's kitchen heat exchanger. That should give you enough of an updraft to make it above most rooftops. You should be fine from there. Ready?"

Dale adjusted his golf ball helmet and braced himself with the control bar. "As I'll ever be. You could say I'm hot to fly."

"Tell you what mate, let's not and say we did." Monty said, Zipper nodding with him.

"Ready… launch." Gadget pulled back on the lever and the glider was flicked off into the air, to the sound of Dale's "Pistachiooooooo!". Even as she did, Chip did a sudden take. He started running up and yelled out, "Wait! Ma's not been using her kitchen, there won't be an updraft!" But Dale's glider was already flying away, over the stack and the parked Ranger plane.

"Ohmigosh!" Gadget said, and then moved the catapult around slightly and squinting as if aligning it. "Quick, Chip, pull the band back and release it."

Chip did as he was told, as Gadget jumped onto the launch ramp. She was flirted faster than Dale's glider, and landed on the Ranger plane balloon just before he flew overhead. She grabbed a strap and pulled a release, freeing the balloon and dropping her onto the Ranger plane's back seat. The freed balloon shot up under Dale's glider and caught it, lifting it upwards and safely into clear air.

The others came running over. "Gadget, are you alright?" Chip called.

Gadget dropped down out of the Ranger plane, shaking her head, but apparently only to clear it.. Monterey caught her. Gadget looked up and said, "I'm fine. An elementary application of ballistics and gas expansion theory. Is Dale safe? I can't see the balloon."

"No worries. That balloon scooted him up faster than a kick from a kangaroo." After checking Gadget was unhurt, Monty asked Chip. "Attemptin' some ballistics of yer own? Looks like yer trying to bring the lady bat and Dale together."

Chip pulled down the brim of his hat slightly, looking a bit embarrassed. "Whatever gives you that idea? It's not like they have that much in common. He likes late nights, she's a night person, she thinks he's funny and cute, he enjoys the attention, and both of them tend to be umm…"

Gadget filled in the missing word. "Spontaneous?"

"I was going to say impulsive, but your word is nicer. Besides she's good for him." He stopped, definitely appearing as if he'd said to much, but Gadget smiled.

"Why Chip, that's so sweet! I didn't realise you were thinking that way."

Chip shrugged. "Don't get me wrong, it's not all about Dale. I think Foxy would be a great full time Ranger. Her main problem is us. She still acts kinda nervous when we're there, probably why we don't see her around our HQ. I figure getting her to help might just break the ice a bit, and show if she could work as part of the team…"

"Not a bad idea Chipper. The little lady's a class act." Monty said, Zipper hovering over his shoulder and nodding. "See? Even Zipper likes her."

Gadget joined in. "I wouldn't mind Foxglove being around either. Maybe we can talk girl talk, whatever that is. Besides designing a room for a bat…"

Chip gently interrupted. "I'm glad everyone's in favour, but we have a lot of work to do."

The next few hours passed in a montage of A-Teamesque activity. Gadget outdid herself, arranging a simple but effective concealed tin-can telephone between the 'command post' on top of the high cupboard and the shelf lined storeroom. She also had the rest of the team haul the glider catapult up there and made up some goo bombs, nets and insulation tape lines for it to launch, enabling them to immobilise or disorient intruders.

At this point Dale returned with the sleepy Foxglove. A perch and a sleeping mask were quickly arranged. A couple of pen light torches were arranged as searchlights and finally plunger tipped lines were made up that could be fired down to the floor to provide a quick way down. A spare balloon was procured for the Ranger plane in case they needed an aerial chase vehicle, and Monty's cheese supply along with sleeping bags were set up at the command post.

Finally, all was in readiness. Dale and Foxglove had been put to bed so they'd be fresh for the night watch and the others watched as Ma and the deliveryman hauled in the food supplies.

"Mmmmm… Cheeeeeeeeeesssse!" Monty murmured, seeing the wheels of cheddar on top of one of the boxes. His moustache had only just started to frizz when Gadget held a lump of stilton under his nose. He quickly recovered.

"Eya..wha? Oh… sorry Gadget, just lost it a bit there."

Chip was down in the storeroom with Zipper, making an inventory of the supplies as they came in. A slight rattle came from the tin-can phone, followed by Chip's voice, sounding rather soft and tinny.

"looks like that's the last of it, all signed sealed and delivered. we've double checked every inch, walls, floor and ceiling and the only way in or out is through the door. we'll check the boxes as soon as the door closes."

Gadget added in. "Understood Chip, but you know you should really say over. over."

"Umm, okay Gadget, over over."

"No, the second over was where I was saying over about my message ending, and not about you saying over at the end of your message… or something like that. Ohhhh… scratch that. Out."

The second shift from the police station kept Ma busy, and Gadget kept Monty from diving off the cupboard into the bowls of cheese chowder. Meanwhile Chip and Zipper, down in the storeroom, were accounting for every grain of flour, every crystal of sugar, every morsel of cheese. The demand was great enough that Ma stayed open until nearly ten. However, Zipper and Monty bedded down at eight, letting Dale and Foxglove take over. Ma's last job before leaving was to make up batches of donut batter for the nect day and leave them in the storeroom cooler.

By midnight it was quiet and dark, thanks to a moonless night and a broken bulb in the porch light. What street light did filter in only helped to outline the darkness that lurked in the corners. Chip had bedded down in the storeroom with Dale on watch. Up on the cupboard Foxy was scanning the kitchen floor with her sonar at intervals, and making small talk with a wakeful Gadget in between times.

"I don't know Gadget, I'd love to be near Cutie all the time, but I don't like to impose." Foxy shrugged her wings, looking away from Gadgets eyes.

Gadget was sitting on her sleeping bag and looking up at the girl bat. The shielded red LED torch that was their only illumination gave the winged figure a sinister, gargoyle air, but the voice was subdued, even nervous, not like Foxglove at all. Gadget tried to be as reassuring as possible.

"Golly, I don't think you'd be imposing and neither does anyone else. Ranger HQ has quite a few hollows we've been using as storage rooms, but we could easily fit one out with a perch and some furniture. I could even fit an automatic door to the outside from there, so you could go out at night with no problems."

"You make it sound so easy…" Suddenly, she paused in mid-speech and listened. "Hold on, can you hear that?"

Gadget listened intently. At first there was nothing, then a very slight scrape as if someone had moved a tile. She tapped the tin-can and whispered into it. "Dale! Wake Chip! It looks like they're here… Over." There was a muffled okay. Meanwhile Foxglove, as planned, had awoken Monty and Zipper before returning to the edge of the cupboard and starting a continuous sonar sweep.

In her minds eye, the darkened room was overlaid with shapes formed by the returning sounds. Hard surfaces facing towards her 'shone' brilliantly, while soft or oblique surfaces were darkened, like a grey scale but where surface colour no longer showed. Static edges were fuzzy, as her sonar sense a resolution down to a 5th of an inch. But moving objects stood out as if outlined, her dirigible ears and instinctive mental processes converting a mixture of doppler shifts and phase variations into a clear mental image.

There! The broom closet door opened by itself and a living object, the right size for a mouse, moved down the thread that was only visible to her because it vibrated. A large group of similar objects, too close together to count moved out onto the the floor. Gadget had thoughtfully marked certain spots with gum. It absorbed her sonar beautifully and made dark spots on the otherwise blank surface. She could then relay the location of anything on the floor to Gadget, allowing her to accurately aim the catapult.

"It's a large group, clustered, I can't tell exactly how many. They'll be at third along, fifth out in a few seconds." she whispered.

Gadget's voice came quietly back. "Ready. Say when."

"Now!" This was shouted. There was a thunk and a whoosh as one of Gadget's biggest net bombs flew off into the dark. She tracked it as it arced out and spread to drop right on the group. The storeroom door creaked open and a penlight back-lit Chip and Dale, coin bolas out, to catch any stragglers and cocktail swords at their waists. Gadget had manned the other penlight and focussed it on the captured group. Meanwhile Monty yelled through a paper megaphone.

"Don't try to escape! We've got you surrounded and outnumbered…" It was a damned fine speech, carefully designed to be as intimidating as possible to the vicious crooks who would steal someone's very lively-hood without care or remorse. Unfortunately it never got delivered because several of the netted creatures started to wail.

The group numbered about twenty five, mostly mice with a few rats and voles, but ranging in age from near geriatric down to barely teenaged. It was some of these young ones who'd started crying. They looked ordinary, even slightly ragged, not the tough, competent thieves the Rangers had expected.

Chip came up to the net, Dale following and from the darkness above, Foxglove glided down to be beside him. Chip was the first to speak to the half paralysed rodentia.

"Hey, who are you all, and what's going on here?"

Before anyone could answer, a voice purred from the direction of the doors to the diner.

"That is no longerr yourr concerrn, Rrangers. We will settle accounts with these miserrable rrodents." Large shapes appeared on the very edge of the torch light, shadowy and indistinct except for their pearl limned claws and luminous cats eyes.

Cue the ominous development BGM and a commercial break.

&

One of the cats took a pace forward into the full light, a stripling, mainly grey but with a black bandit mask of fur across his eyes. To a human, a cat, especially a young one is cute and fluffy. On a rodent scale it's a rhino sized killing machine of claws and teeth. So when Chip turned away from the netted mice, drew his cocktail stick rapier and stood between them and the cat, several of them gasped in shock.

Dale whispered something to Foxglove. She started to protest, then nodded and faded back out of the light. He then came up beside Chip, who spoke.

"Let a group of cats pounce on a bunch of trapped mice. Not on my watch."

"What? I said you could go! You think the two of you with those rrridiculous toothpicks could stop us for a second?" The cat looked equally surprised.

"I dunno, but it looks like we'll try!" said Dale.

&

As Chip started forward, Gadget, watching from the cupboard top, exclaimed, "Ohmigosh, Chip, Dale!"

Monty said, "Don't worry Gadget-luv, he knows what he's doing."

Gadget hauled on the catapult frame and shifted it's aim slightly. "All the same Monty, get down there quick. We're using the light trick. Zipper.. Get to the light switch by the door and wait for my signal."

"Anything you say Gadget-luv!" Monty sighted a plunger crossbow and shot a line down and over the area of floor by the net. He picked up a metal serving fork and set it over the line, catching the line in the curve betweeen handle and fork. As he slid off down the zip-line, Foxglove landed by Gadget who was loading a new load into the catapult.

"We've go to help Dale! He told me I could help better here, but…"

Gadget didn't even turn, using the telescope, now attached to the catapult to sight on the illuminated area. "Jeepers can you ever…"

&

As Dale finished his brave addendum, there was a thunk in the darkness behind the cats and zipping noise. A figure dropped down beside them holding his serving fork like a Swiss pike. "Looks like your count's a mite light, kitty."

Chip gave a sidelong nod of acknowledgement, and continued. "And by now Gadget has her catapult sighted and ready to drop a load of something nasty on your whiskers if you so much as twitch."

"Toooraloo! Chip, I recognise these murderous moggies. They're the ones that Ma puts milk out for."

"And we love you too, Creamlump." muttered one of the other two that came forward.

Monty's brow was furrowed. "But there were four of them…"

From high above, Gadget's voice yelled "Lights!" The kitchen was suddenly illuminated, and so was the cat caught in mid-leap from the worktop to the cupboard. He was the recipient of a water balloon filled with goo from Gadget's catapult, which stopped him dead in the air and dropped him into the sink below with a huge sploosh.

The Rangers on the ground had closed their eyes when Gadget spoke, pre-warned by the cue 'light'. The cats hadn't and were still blinded as their night vision adjusted when Foxglove dropped out of the sky holding the end of Monty's zip-line and landed beside Dale. "Miss me cute stuff?"

Dale and Chip nodded to each other, wasting no time in picking thew coils of line up and running around and under the cats, tangling them in it. The bandit masked cat recovered just quickly enough to jump over it, only to be stopped short by Monty and the skewer. "Hold it mate, this ain't a wooden spoon I'm swinging."

The cat was looking miffed. "I still have the advantage. I didn't want to hurrrt you Rangers, but…" He started forward. The cat was right, a mouse with a big piece of pointy metal could disable a cat if his first strike was right on target. If he missed there wasn't going to be a second chance.

Chip called out from where the other cats were hog-tied.. "Wait! Why not us… of course, you're doing this for Ma, aren't you?"

The cat backed off having found he couldn't bat the skewer to one side. Monty had fought snakes and tied up squid with their own tentacles, and right now his whole prodigious strength was holding that fork in place. The cat turned so he could keep an eye on both the mighty mouse and where Chip was standing, cocktail rapier still out.

"Yeah, the lady's been good to us. You helped herrr too, that's why we didn't want you harrrmed, even Crrreamlump over therrre. Since those rrrotten little crrrooks have been thieving Ma can't afford milk forrr us and now they'rrre puttimg herr out of business."

Chip looked surprised. "You knew who was doing it?"

"We watched one of theirrr heists thrrrough the window. Afterrr all we can see in the darrrk like cats." For the first time the cat showed a bit of humour. "Howeverrr we couldn't get in until tonight. With the late opening, we could sneak into the dinerrr. And the rrrest is historrry, like those mice you'rrre prrrotecting." The last word was purred, but in a tone of menace. This was the purr of a high performance car engine, just before it goes from 0 to 60 in 3.2 seconds and squishes some poor unsuspecting hedgehog. He tensed to leap towards Chip.

"WAIT! I could threaten your friend here, but that isn't the way the Rescue Rangers do things." Chip toook a chance and threw down the rapier. "Please. If you feel you owe us anything, let us deal with them. I think there's more to this business than just this group."

The cat lowered his head for a second, clearly thinking. Then he looked up, straight into Chip's eyes. "Agrrreed. I had a cousin in Cat Alley who you frrreed when that human kidnapped them all. I guess we can trrrust you to do the rrright thing."

"Then swear it." Chip replied.

The cat raised a paw to his chest. "I Bandit, swearrr by the law of tooth and claw, that neither I or my frrriends, Dewclaw, Tan and Merrry, will harm you orrr these otherrr rrrodents while you arrre working on helping Ma. But if we think they might still be trrrouble, we'll make are own… arrrangements."

The oath was ancient, and the reservation showed he meant it. So Chip let him prowl forward and helped him cut the line holding his comrade.

Meanwhile Dale was sighing with relief and was tackled by a high speed bat. "Dale, you were so brave! And Chip too."

"Aw, it weren't nothin'. I gotta admit it looked like we'd run out of things to say. I'm just glad you were there to feed us a line."

&

The cats had been freed and dried off their soaked friend, courtesy of a bat delivered hand towel. Then they stretched out to watch proceedings. Chip had returned to the trapped rodents and located a leader. They were looking at him with expressions ranging from respect, through amazement, up to hero worship.

Chip was face to face with an older mouse, with salt and pepper head fur and a moustache. "I'm the Chip Maplewood, leader of the Rescue Rangers, and I suggest you start telling me who you are and what you thought you were doing."

The old mouse was breathlessly stumbling over the words from nervousness. "Of course… Thank you for saving us from the cats…"

"He hasn't saved you yet, rrroadkill." This came from the direction of the cats.

The mouse almost fainted. Chip gave an annoyed glare in their direction then focussed on the old mouse again. "Save the complements. Why are you stealing Ma's supplies?"

"None of us want to be here, but Rat Capone has members of our families hostage."

Chip smacked one forepaw into the other. "Of course, I should have guessed, it's got all the tooth-marks of his type of operation!"

Gadget had come down from the cupboard to assist. "But why would that gangster want groceries? Apart from the cheese, that's practically money in the bank." She referred to the fact that cheese was the de-facto mouse currency, and therefore a standard of small animal economics. Easily stored, long lasting and intrinsically valuable, it acted as a standard to back credit, like gold for humans, where barter wouldn't suffice.

"It's not the raw material he's after. We have to steal the mixed up donut batter, put it into spare tubs and cart it back to his hide-out. And the cheese of course."

Monty chipped in. "Sounds like a job o' rescue. Just what we needed to loosen up."

"Right, Monty. Let's get them free of this net."

Bandit stood up and stretched. "You're letting them go?"

Chip turned to face him. "The ones you're after are Rat Capone and his henchmen. If you'd attacked these people he'd have just sent others to do the same job. I've got a feeling we'll need all the help we can get, including yours, to catch Capone and free their families." Chip's brow was furrowed, "If I could only figure out, why donut batter?" He sighed. "We'll need background on the layout of the layer, where the prisoners are kept, how many goons he's got, apart from Mousenegger and Sugar Ray. How did he set up this scam anyway?"

The mouse, Arthur, explained. "We all live in the building and sewers around the business district. It's always been quiet, peaceful-like. When people started disappearing, it took everyone by surprise. Then that rat, Capone showed himself. He's set up in a disused basement, I think it was a coffee shop. There's a kitchen in back and the prisoners are in a big cage suspended over the sink. He has this remote control with him, all the time, and now we do what he says, or he drops the cage in the sink. That includes getting tonight's shipments to him." Several of the other mice were near to tears, but no-one was trying to get away. Near the Rangers was safe from the cats.

"That no-good, slimy fink! We gotta do something!" Dale was fuming.

Gadget looked equally annoyed. "If it's a radio controller, I can make a spark gap jammer that will stop any signals dead, but I need to get it really close to the winch gear to make sure it works."

"Well Arthur? Any way to get up close?"

The old mouse shook his head. "The only other things back there are a load of science stuff, and the cooler where they store the donut batter. We go in under guard, store the batter and out the same way." His shoulders slumped, "It's hopeless."

"Things are never hopeless when the Rescue Rangers are on the case. If cartons of donut batter are the only things that go in, then that's what we'll have to be. Gadget, how long do you think it'll take you to put together some kind of vehicle, disguised as a batter carton? Oh, and the jammer."

"Hmmm… If I get parts from the Ranger Plane, and raid the bottom drawers in here… a couple of hours, less if I have help with the assembly." She pulled a stub of pencil and a piece of paper out of her jump-suit pocket and sat down on the floor, lost in a world of schematics.

Chip nodded. "Then we buy you those hours. Do they sample the batter when you bring it in?"

"Occasionally. The old mouse or his assistant open the lid and dip a bit off the top."

Dale looked confused. "Wait a minute! Rat Capone isn't old and he certainly ain't no mouse."

One of the ex-captive adult rats spoke up. "He means the science-guy, Wisen-something."

Gadget suddenly looked up, surprised. "You mean Wisentush?"

"That could be the guy. And his assistant's called Wilbur or Wesley, something like that. They had me carting around some of his gear before the place went off limits."

"But what would a respected scientist like Professor Wisentush take up with the likes of Capone?" Gadget got up and started pacing, in a similar manner to Chip's.

Monty was leaning on his fork. "Sounds like you know the guy luv."

"I read Scientific Rodentia. Professor Heinrich Wisentush is a Nicodemus award winner, perhaps the greatest rodent biologist and biochemist in the world. As an under-the-floor graduate at Caltech he invented a new strain of milkweed that produced juice suitable for cheese-making. His developments in food preservation techniques have saved thousands of rodent lives. According to the article, his new project was applying human food concentrating techniques, like the ones for the Spaceplane, to rodent applications."

The rat spoke up. "Happens he was more interested in his speech, he and that Capone fellow were always arguing about a 'diction' or some such. Funny foreign accent."

Dale chuckled, "Maybe he's addicted to his dictionary…"

Chip frowned, "Dale! this is no time for jokes…"

"Maybe it is, Chip!" Gadget interrupted. "Well it isn't, but he just said something that could be serious, which means it wasn't really as much of a joke as he meant it to be… scratch that. Donut batter has fats and sugar and lots of other components that rodents and humans alike crave. Intensify a craving and it could become an addiction. Maybe Professor Wisentush's research turned up something like that. In theory you could end up with a reaction that makes Monty's cheese attacks look like a case of the midnight munchies."

"Wowie zowie! An army of Montys willing to do anything for that stuff and Rat Capone controlling them. Anyone else getting worried?"

"No, because it's not going to happen." Chip said. "Okay, here's how we're going to fix it. We get spare cartons and fill them most of the way with water, the put in grease proof paper and a top layer of batter. That way we've got fake cartons that won't deplete Ma's supply much. Most of you guys," he gestured to the freed rodents, "Are going to cart them back to Capone as normal. Except for the youngest and oldest ones. Make an excuse about how some of you got lost in the sewers. Zipper, will you go with them to check the place and make sure we haven't missed anything?"

"Zaye aye!" the fearless fly saluted.

"Dale, I'm asking you to go disguised as part of the group, and Foxglove will act as air cover. You are both going to do some other things when the time comes so listen close…"

Bandit padded up behind him. "Now hold on a minute! You seem rrrealy surrre we'rrre going to go along with this plan."

"Well it does give you a chance for some payback on the real culprits, Rat Capone and his goons. The only thing I ask is leave them alive. I want a piece of them too."

There was a chorus of agreement from the assembled rodents.

&

"Alright, youse mugs, move those cartons!" The Rat Capone motivational speaking course was in full swing.

The gangster stood on a platform around a pressure cooker-like device that was part of a much more complicated set of rodent scale chemical plant, assembled out of left over kitchen equipment. It sat on the floor, overlooked by the cliff-like face of the cooler and work surfaces. Below a group of assorted rodents was rolling a wheel of cheese and carting several cartons towards the cooler.

Sugar Ray Lizard was down at the side of the line, with a couple of nameless rat goons. He was clearly working on his motivational certificate too, with a whip crack of his tail "You heard what the boss said, get the lead out."

"And get moving too!" Arnold Mousenegger added from beside his boss.

A dark furred, lab coated rat with white hair and a white goatee, scurried up holding a clipboard. "Please Mr Capone, zey are working as fast as zey can. Is all zis really necessary?"

The rotten rodent rounded on the poor professor. "Youse just leave the work relations type stuff to me and get on with mass producing the juice. An' remember any gold-bricking an' I'll introduce some of our guests to the pool wearing steel lifejackets."

"But Boss, won't a steel life jacket sink?" Arnold said, slow as always to catch up with the program.

"That's the idea you goon! So Doc, when are you going to show results? I've spent Cheese Wheels on this contraption here, even got the kitchen fans working like youse wanted. So far it ain't got me bupkiss."

The scientist shook his head. "You must understand ze addictive properties of ze concentrated formula were originally an unforezeen side effect. When you originally offered to fund my research it was to eliminate it, not intenzify. Ze controlled conditions it requires." It was clear from his manner that he detested the whole business. "Alzo scaling up ze process is mozt complex and I do vhat I can. I am a Professor, not a Doctor and devinitely not an engineer."

"Shaddap, you'll be whatever I tell you to and like it!"

Arnold slowly thought this through and came out with, "Uh Boss, that blonde mouse you was after as your moll, didn't she build all kindsa stuff. If you fed her some of the Doc's joy juice, wouldn't she do just about anything to get more? You could get her to fix the Doc's dohickey."

Capone turned to cuff the muscle mouse and then stopped. "Say now, that's not a bad idea. Yeah, I like it. As soon as we've got this lot stored, you and Sugar Ray are going on a mouse hunt."

"But boss I know where I am." Arnold quickly returned to form.

This did earn him a thump. "Not fer you, youse lugnut, fer my moll."

A weaselly little weasel not much bigger then a rat, with a shock of ruddy head fur and a t-shirt, came up behind the Professor. "The beta test series has run. You've got to set up the gamma."

The elder rat winced. "Wesley, can you not do anyzing wizout me!"

Rat Capone glanced over at the weasel. "Mebe youse can give me a straight answer. You told me about this in the first place, when am I gonna see results?"

The weasel started sweating. "Uh, real soon now. We've just got the fine tuning to do. That's why I got to get the Professor back to work." He turned on the scientist and started strong-arming him off. "C'mon, you… we have to get to work. Hah, bet you wish you'd listened to me. We could have sold the milkweed plant for a mint, or cashed in on those preservation techniques. Instead you practically gave them away. Well it's chump change compared to what this will bring in so you're going to work until it does…"

While this conversation was going on the last carton was placed outside the cooler, ready to be transferred inside. And inside the carton, Chip, Gadget and Monty were sitting in bucket seats in the middle of a morass of mechanisms. An earphone was bringing the outside sounds to them.

"Ohhh! That penny ante, lowlife, wannabe criminal master mind." Gadget was in a rare state of extreme mad. "Perverting science to make a crooked buck. Ohhh… I'll give him a 'moll'," (she said this last word in Capone trademark drawl) "He'll be mauled so far out of shape he'll be in hospital for a month."

"I'll help luv, but shouldn't you launch your jammer thingy?" Monty said.

"First we have to get up there!" said Chip. "On target?" He asked Gadget.

She was pushing on some foot pedals while staring with one eye into a drinking straw periscope. At the moment it was flush with the top of the carton and pointing straight up. "Almost… there… launch!" Chip pulled back on a lever by his side and the entire carton suddenly shot into the air, propelled by the spring that had appeared underneath.

It landed on the work surface by the sink and bounced along towards it. Inside Monty pulled a lever and a jar dropped out of a side hatch that suddenly opened. It smashed open on impact and red goo splashed away to reveal a plastic wrapped egg timer with some batteries and a couple of sparking antenna.

"Jammer away!" Monty called. "But why the jar?"

"No time to built a shock absorber so I had to use the jam jar. The jam had the right viscosity to absorb the shock and the jar was the right size. Coming up on the sink!"

The carton contraption landed right in the sink under the wire cage and sunk most of the way, as it had been designed to do. Gadget was now looking through a transparent panel in the base and working some controls. "The magna-ray is catching the plug chain… got it!"

The plug came out and the sink started emptying. The carton sunk till the spring touched the floor. Then Chip called, "Rescue Rangers away!" and pulled a second lever. The top of the carton with it's layer of batter flipped off and out sprung the cockpit section. The lid landed with a splat on the side of the sink. The cockpit, following Gadget's carefully worked out trajectory, landed on it, cushioning the impact as donut batter squirted out from underneath.

Back down on the ground, things hadn't been quiet. As soon as the carton launched, with a buzzed bugle call Zipper swooped from the ceiling, dive bombing Rat Capone and Mousenegger and keeping them distracted for the crucial few seconds until the jammer was released. He squirted them both with blue food colouring from a small squeeze bottle as he did so.

"Why that dirty rat… fly! How dare he mess up my good suit!" yelled the gangster, trying to swat the heroic insect with his trilby hat. Suddenly Zipper drew away, as in mid rant a lump of jam landed on Capones head and started dripping down his face. He stopped going so red with fury, the jam no longer showed and started to boil on his forehead.

Mousenegger judicially tasted some of the splatter that had landed on his lapel. "Uh boss, I think it's a preserve, and it's raspberry jelly too."

Everyone knows what's coming next… "There's only one set a mugs who'd dare give Rat Capone the raspberry… the Refuse Rangers. Glup!" This last because a second delayed lump of jam had landed in his mouth just as he was shouting to the heavens in unrighteous fury.

Dale was hardly idle, either. He'd been part of the dispirited line of serfs carting the cartons, wrapped in a shawl and scarf. As soon as he heard the spring go he immediately un-hunched himself and made a beeline for Sugar Ray who was watching the ascending carton.

"What the… Hey you get back in line old lady!" He suddenly noticed the approaching figure and cracked his tail again.

Dale made his voice quaver. "Sorry dearie… I just noticed you were looking a little green… let me help with that!" He dropped the disguise and squirted Sugar Ray right in the face with another bottle of blue food colouring.

Sugar Ray stumbled backwards, frantically rubbing his eyes. He instinctively brought his tail forward and around to snag the chipmunk, but Dale jumped up and forward and pulled Sugar Ray's flat cap down tight over his eyes.

"Better cap-itulate evildoer! Dale the master of disguise has you at his mercy!" he said in his most heroic tone of voice, dodging Ray's wildly flailing tail. He brought out a set of coin bolas and flung them at Sugar Ray's legs, bringing the hench-lizard down like a toppling tree .

Just as Dale was posing for victory, one of the nameless thugs came up behind him and hauled him up by the back of his collar. "Gotcha, ya little pest!"

Suddenly a bat shaped blur dropped out of left field. "Don't you dare hurt Dale! Hyaaaa!" Foxglove zoomed in, flipped over feet first, and hit the goons jaw with both feet. He sank to the floor, dazed.

"Thanks Foxy, forgot about him!" Dale called as the second nameless goon stomped forward, ready to grapple him from in front. "You can't stop me, I'm on a roll!" yelled Dale, suiting actions to words by suddenly tucking and throwing himself forward in a roll into the goons legs. The goon went over, and was stopped from getting back up by a bat wing striking down in a karate style chop.

Dale looked over at Foxglove standing over the second goon. "Nice one. Together we're batting a thousand!"

The goons and Sugar Ray Lizards hands were quickly bound and the goons doused with the blue colouring.

The rodents who'd been part of Dale's group cheered and were spreading the word to the rest of the forced labour. There was an exodus towards the front part of the coffee shop as they used lines and carefully won tail lock picking experience to get the door open. Zipper zoomed down the sewer and seconds later the cats came out. This caused something of a panic amongst the unprepared workers, but it soon became clear they were only looking for rodents with the blue mark. Rat Capone and his goons exited rapidly after that, sans hats and pursued by cats.

Back up on the sink edge, Chip, Gadget and Monty were clustered round the winch gear. As the last of the water gurgled down the plug hole, Monty was surveying the chaos below.

"Looks like a one bonzer punch-up." he sighed. "Dale and me pally are havin' all the fun. Looks like the lady bat knows a thing or two too!"

Chip came up beside him. "Sorry Monty, but there was too much chance Capone or his thugs would recognise you. Besides we may need your strength here."

Gadget called out. "Actually it'll need both of you." She had an old scrubbing brush from the draining tray and had hooked it under one of the fittings so it rested on the winch cable reel. When I release the reel manually, you have to push upwards on the other end of the brush. That will push the scrubbing pad down on the reel and act as a brake. Not that it will actually break anything, just retard the motion and the cage will come down smoothly. The spring loaded carton will cushion any remaining shock… Oh you're ready."

About halfway through Gadget's explanation, Chip and Monty had looked at each other and taken up position. Gadget pulled back the ratchet that held the cable drum and the cage started to gracefully descend. It slipped the last few inches as the cable ran out, but that was easily caught by the carton.

There were screams and cries especially during the last little drop, but they turned to cheers when Chip and Monty used the scrubbing brush to bridge the gap to the cage door. Gadget scampered across, and put the own tail lock pick skills to use. Soon a stream of rodents were coming out of the cage and being winched down to the ground using another improvised elevator. At the bottom there were many joyful reunions.

Suddenly, Wesley appeared on the top of the pressurisation equipment, holding a tied up and gagged professor, and looking severely mussed himself. "You ruined it! You wrecked it all! Well I'll get all, you stinking stuck-up little rodents, all of you!"

He pushed a button and the lashed up piping and pans started to steam and bulge most alarmingly. A balloon started to inflate behind him from steam pressure. He laughed madly as the platform was lifted by the balloon, revealing it had a propeller and pedal wheels.

"Ohmigosh! He's released the main valves. That whole plant will explode and take us with it… Chip, stall him, I have an idea!"

Chip yelled down. "Wait! Won't you go up too? And you'll loose all the Professor's work!"

"Nice try chipmunk! This balloon will ride the edge of the explosion, and as for the professors work, I've got him and his notes. There are other sponsors, and next time you and these pathetic drones won't be around to stop me! I'd say farewell, but that ain't going to happen…What!"

This last was down to Gadget. She'd dashed back to the cockpit and got behind the controls of the magna-ray. She pulled out a sheet of paper with some designs on. "If I can just extend the magnetic dipole and couple with the rotor windings in the hub…"

The magnet tip of the projector quivered and turned to point at the ceiling fan. Then it started to spin, faster and faster. The fan spun in sympathy and suddenly spun off it's hub flying towards the front of the shop. Gadget hauled on the control levers frantically and guided it round like a boomerang, slicing it barely across the side of the hot air balloon, causing it to sink back onto it's mount. The blade caroomed off the fridge and slammed straight into a particularly strained pipe, releasing it's pressure in a huge fountain of steam.

Wesley was quickly apprehended and the Rangers took charge of the clean up and evacuation. Professor Wisentush was released and allowed to recover. The scientist rodent, a bit scruffy but none the worse for wear came up and shook each of the Rangers by the hand. "Zank you, for rescuing me and my notes. While I was working on Capone's project I was also completing my own. I have worked out how to remove ze addiction effect, and can now use zis discovery for it's original purpose."

"No need for thanks Professor, that's what the Rescue Rangers do.", said Chip.

The professor stopped by Gadget. "And to you, young lady a most particular zanks. Your solution to stopping my assistant and preventing the explosion was most ingenious. A magnetic induction ray, and so compact… "

Gadget blushed. "Golly, Professor Wisentush, it was nothing."

"Were you ze one that criminal was talking about, the 'blonde mouse inventor', well maybe he had at least one good idea."

Gadget looked shocked. "Professor?"

"In ze future, may I consult you on matters of production machinery? What I told him was true, I am a biochemist and it is not my strong point."

"I'd be honoured."

"Looks like your stunt with the air conditioning has made him your biggest fan." said Dale, chuckling.

&

Gadget and Chip had stayed behind to put the Rangerplane back together, and the others had made their way back to Ranger Headquarters. Monty was swearing to himself never to try the ballistic catapults from the police precinct ever again.

"Feels right good to be back mates. I'll stick on a kettle."

Dale chipped in. "Hey, Monty, have you noticed Chip and Gadget keep on doing a Fred and Daphne on us lately?"

"You mean, when they go places, they go together, right lad?" Monty looked hard at Dale. "What is it? Still jealous, lad?"

"Maybe once, but now it's different. I mean Gadget is really pretty…", to his side Foxy drooped slightly, "… and kind…", more droop, "… and one of the best friends a guy could have.", even more droop. "But I've already got a foxy lady, right Foxy?"

Glomph! "Dale, don't worry me like that!" Zipper and Monterey both looked on with a slightly avuncular air as Dale appeared to get a new bat skin overcoat. "That reminds me Foxy-luv, those were some right moves you were laying out with Dale. Where did you learn that kinda thing?"

Foxglove detached herself from Dale, looking slightly nervous. "Ummm… well living on her own and all, a girl has to know these things."

Dale moved forward and hugged her back. "Aww… Foxy, you don't have to worry anymore." She relaxed.

Zipper nudged Monty, and buzzed something. He whispered back as he headed for the kitchen. "Yeah, I think me pal Dale's hooked good and proper." Out loud he called, "Want anything with your acorn tea?"

Dale called back. "Anything, except for donuts."

"Ohhh… that's too bad." Chips voice came from the main entrance. He and Gadget shuffled down the domino stairs, carrying a white paper bag between them from which a sweet, doughy odour emerged.

The bat and chipmunk sprang apart, with Dale doing most of the springing. He still kept his arm in Foxy's though. "Uh… Where did that come from?" Dale said to fill the embarrassed pause.

Gadget lowered her end as if it was a wardrobe. "By the time we'd fixed the Rangerplane, Ma had just had the batter and remaining cheese wheels returned by the police. Some of it had to be used immediately, so she made a free round for the guys who brought it in. So I used the grappler to get us one. I think we all deserve it."

Monty came in with a tray loaded with other goodies. "Too right!"

Chip slumped happily back in the sofa, a lump of hot donut in one hand, a cup of acorn tea in the other. "Yeah, everyone did great. But for now the Rescue Rangers are resting."

Dale chuckled. "I know, I'll put out the Do-nut Disturb sign."

There was a massed chorus of "Dale!" and laughter.

Cue Rescue Ranger end of episode background music.


End file.
